As they moved along Coxswain Riley vented his feelings in an undertone: "We need only a band and a dead march to make a funeral of this! And---yet---no war!" From the slow-moving ranks came only a deep, surly growl.

Lieutenant Trent turned around, then faced front once more; he had no heart to utter a rebuke.
Mingled cheers and growls greeted the arrival of the pitiful fugitives at the advanced lines.

The cheers were for the fact that the refugees had at least escaped with their lives.

The growls were for the Mexicans responsible for this spectacle.
"We must secure conveyances of some kind to take these poor people into the city," declared Commander Dillingham.

"I will send a messenger to ask for the best sort of carriages that can be found in a place like Vera Cruz.